These days, our private information is up for grabs and going to the highest bidders. Collectors are targeting us with advertisements in our inboxes and social media accounts. Worse, websites like Facebook clearly affect lives on and off our computers and phones.

Hey, hello! I'm going to start this column off with a concept that's been around for a while, but one I've been asked to explain at least once a month by the Olds in my life: finstas.

Facebook is planning to merge its three messaging services — WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram’s private messages — into a single messaging platform.

There’s nothing worse than opening up your Netflix account to find a blacked-out screen with the caption: “Too many people are using the account.”

The Cabeau Evolution is many people's favourite travel pillow, and the TRTL is great for people who nod their head to the side, but the BCOZZY is the best pillow I’ve tried for supporting your chin.

The 10-year challenge was all fun and memes until last week after a tweet moved thousands of people to worry: are we unknowingly helping giant corporations to improve their algorithms for biometric identification and age progression?

Social media is great for connecting people, sharing news and information, and giving your grandmother the opportunity to air her political opinions unfettered. Unfortunately, its anonymity and widespread reach makes it an easy way for people to spread hate, and since Donald Trump’s election in 2016, social media users have noticed a worrisome increase in online hate speech.

This week, Instagram rolled out a new feature that allows you to post an image across multiple accounts, or even post an image on more than one account at the same time. Though that sounds like a niche feature created to help power users, there are plenty of people who juggle multiple Instagram feeds: Users who keep public and private feeds, side accounts for their pets, and other photography side projects.

And yes, in the age of influencer culture, the number of people who use Instagram for both business and pleasure is only rising.

The revelation this past week that Facebook has been sharing what you do on the site with other companies like Microsoft and Amazon has led a number of us to start considering (perhaps not for the first time) deleting Facebook and other apps owned by the company like Instagram and WhatsApp.

Any day is a good day to boycott Facebook, but today is especially perfect. This week, the Senate Intelligence Committee released two reports on Russian propaganda and its use of social media.

If you use Instagram, chances are you've already started to see your friends posting collages of their "top nine" photos of the year. The first year I started noticing these I spent a solid half hour at least trying to figure out where to find the collage within Instagram's app. Spoiler: you're not going to find it in there. It has the look and feel of a built-in Instagram feature, but it's not.

Instagram is one of those platforms, like Twitter, that I've always considered the content I post to be visible to the masses. Yes, I know both have a "private" option for accounts, but I've always thought the value in both was in interacting with people outside your circle.

Instagram is making it easier for people with visual impairments to experience its site. Today it started rolling out a new automatic alternative text feature which will create descriptions of photos uploaded to the social networks using object recognition technology.

When my son approached his teenage years, I braced myself for the inevitable behaviours teens often display. I waited for the eye rolling and the mouthing off. I prepared for door slamming and grunting. I steeled myself for years of silence with a moody teen. I’d often heard parents of teens joke that “you get your kid back” when they head off to college.

While Facebook has faced massive scrutiny over the last year when it comes to privacy and security, their other major social network, Instagram, has managed to stay clear of the spotlight. Until now. Over the weekend, it was revealed that a new security flaw could have inadvertently exposed Instagram passwords to public view.

Earlier this year I finally fell down the rabbit hole that is Instagram Stories, and now I spend way too much time on Instagram. This week, the app started rolling out a new feature to combat Insta-addiction, a “Your Activity” tracker that shows you how much time you spend in the app, and lets you set limits to help reduce the number of hours you pour into scrolling you feed each day.

Breaking up is hard to do, especially when there are numerous public profiles where we can check in on everything our ex does. Looking at how the person you dated is filling all their days without you is a bad idea, but often impossible to resist.

Fortunately, there's a way to surreptitiously keep tabs on them without bumming yourself out in the process. Here's how.

I'm a huge fan of night modes. Night/Dark modes are easier on your eyes and your device's battery, and frankly just look better, in my opinion. This week I came across a Chrome extension that adds a dark mode to Instagram on the web. Called "Night Mode for Instagram" the extension transforms your Instagram feed into something a little easier to look at.

Earlier this year I embraced the greatness that is Instagram stories. While I'll typically spend a good deal of time trying to capture the perfect image with the perfect caption to put on regular Instagram, with Instagram stories I'm willing to post pretty much anything. When given the choice I also like to add stickers and GIFs to what I post, sometimes at a level that (wrong) people might call excessive.